Tag Archives: Motorola cell phones

According to a recent blog post from Motorola, the company will limit ICS updates to just the handsets it believes will benefit from the change. For example, the Droid 3, Droid Pro and Milestone 3 will remain on Android 2.3 (a.k.a. Gingerbread), while some phones will keep versions of Android as far back as Android 1.5 and 2.1.

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Here is the explanation in Motorola’s words: “You may be wondering why all devices aren’t being upgraded to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). Here’s the deal. We work very closely with Google and cell phone carriers for every software update. And, obviously we want the new release to improve our devices. If we determine that can’t be done—well then, we’re not able to upgrade that particular device.”

To date, the only device that has received its update to Android 4.0 is the WiFi-only XOOM (and only the US and Canadian versions). All other devices remain in one of their four stages: development, test in-house, carrier test and release. (A beta field test may also be inserted between stages 3 and 4.)

Motorola has probably been the most candid and thorough device manufacturer when it comes to Android upgrade plans. Motorola has been good about maintaining their device update page found in their forums. Here is a summary of their ICS roll-out plans as of this month:

How much the Google buyout of Motorola will affect the release schedule is anyone’s guess. Google is very good at raising the bar, so we hope they lay some Google ambition on Motorola’s organization.

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Google jumped its final hurdle in its $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility with China approving the deal. The next step may involve layoffs for Motorola Mobility employees in the near future. According to Tech Crunch, layoffs could be on the list of things to do after the deal closes.

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Motorola went through one restructuring after the announcement of the Google acquisition last year. When the announcement went public, Motorola had 19,000 employees. Later that year about 800 employees were laid off. Neither Google nor Motorola have confirmed the possibility of upcoming layoffs.

"I'm excited to announce today that our Motorola Mobility deal has closed," said Larry Page, Google CEO. "Motorola is a great American tech company that has driven the mobile revolution, with a track record of over 80 years of innovation, including the creation of the first cell phone. We all remember Motorola's StarTAC, which at the time seemed tiny and showed the real potential of these devices. As the company who made a big, early bet on Android, Motorola has become an incredibly valuable partner to Google."

While the news of any layoffs under any circumstances is bad news, maybe Google can turn the phone- maker around. Motorola has been in trouble for awhile now. Earlier this month, the company reported a fifth straight quarter of losses including a net loss of $86 million for the first quarter of 2012. In previous consecutive quarters, Motorola reported net losses in the low $80 million area. Motorola hasn’t been able to figure out how to compete with other Android device manufacturers like Samsung and HTC.

Google also announced today that Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha has stepped down and Google executive Dennis Woodside will take over.